Interlocking shingle



Jan. 11, 1955 H. ABRAHAM INTERLOCKING SHINGLE 2 shets-sheet 1 Filed Dec.19. 195o INVENToR. Hfiffr ,45km/4M Jan. 1l, 1955 H. ABRAHAM 2,699,129

INTERLoKING SHINGLE Filed Dec. 19. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 INVENTOR./lfepf Ama/ 1,4m

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United States Patent O IN TERLOCKIN G SHINGLE Herbert Abraham, New York,N. Y., assignor to The Ruberoid Co., New York, N. Y., a corporation ofNew Jersey Application December 19, 1950, Serial No. 201,636

1 Claim. (Cl. 10S- 7) This invention relates to interlocking shinglesmade of exible composition material of the kind commonly known asasphalt roofing, and more particularly to the type of shingles that aresubstantially T-shaped in form.

An example of such type of shingle is disclosed in Patent No. 2,266,376of December 16, 1941. However the shingles of that patent are subject tothe objections, among other things, that when laid they do not provide adouble thickness of material at all points of the roof covering, andthat they do not form exposed patterns of symmetrical appearance.

The principal objects of my invention are to provide a T-shapedinterlocking shingle of novel form and arrangement of parts thatovercomes those objections, that elfects a covering of at least twothicknesses throughout the entire roof area with use of a minimum amountof material per square, that forms symmetrical exposure patterns, andthat has great resistance to raising or unfastening of its butt and whensubjected to high wind pressures or velocities.

I have found that these results may be accomplished by providing aT-shaped shingle having a single step or intermediate portion betweenits head and shank portions, the height of which intermediate portion isequal to the height or altitude of the angularity of a slit in the shankmeasured along the side of the shank. The height of the head and shankportions are equal, the height of the shank (distance x) being threetimes the vertical distance from the butt to the inner end of the slit(distance z), plus the produced or projected vertical height of the slitas measured along the side of the shank (distance In the accompanyingdrawings:

Fig. l is a plan View of a preferred form of shingle embodying theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a covering formed of the shingleslaid in interlocked relation;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the manner in which the shingles are cut;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a modied form of shingle; and,

Fig. 5 is a plan View of another modification.

The shingles may be cut from a web or sheet of granule faced roofingmaterial with very little or no Waste depending upon whether or not thehead portion of the shingle is formed with an extension or projectionalong part of its upper edge. In the preferred form illustrated theshingle is provided with such an extension. This permits of cutting aplurality of rows of shingles from a web in such manner that the buttsof all the shingles will be cleanly cut and free from granules. Suchmanner of cutting, shown in Fig. 3, is now well known in the art andentails only a slight waste of material along the longitudinal edges ofthe web, the waste being indicated by the hatched areas. Where theshingles are cut without the extensions, no waste occurs, but in thatcase the butts of some of the shingles will have granules over theiredges with the result that the butts of all of the shingles cut will notbe uniform in appearance.

My improved shingle is T-shaped in form consisting of a head portion 11,an intermediate portion 12, and a shank portion 13. The shank has anoblique slit 14 in each side 15, which slit forms a locking tab 16 ateach corner of its butt end. To prevent tearing, the slit may be formedwith a slightly enlarged opening at its inner end preferably a circle.The intermediate portion, at each side of the shingle, has a horizontaledge ICC 17 and a vertical edge 18 that together define a step 19, whichstep forms a corner 20 with the shank. When the shingles are applied theinner ends of the slits 14 of those of one course will lock in thecorners 20 of another.

The distance a between the inner ends of the slits 14-14 denes the widthof the exposed portion of the shank or butt when laid, and is equal tothe difference between the widths of the head and shank portions. Thewidth of the intermediate portion is the mean of those of the head andshank. These relationships are essential to insure proper laying of theshingles in interlocked relation so as to etect double coverage with aminimum of material. In the preferred form of shingle the width of thehead is 21AM, the intermediate portion 2a, and the shank ll/za. Withinthe relationships abovementioned, the widths of the several portions maybe proportionately Varied.

The head portion 11 has lower horizontal edges 21, vertical sides 22,and a horizontal upper edge 23. In the form of shingle illustrated, forthe reason hereinbefore stated, the upper edge is preferably providedwith an extension 24. It is to be understood, of course, that theextension may be omitted since it performs no necessary function insofaras either double coverage, or symmetry of design, when the shingles arelaid, is concerned.

On referring to Fig. l, it will be seen that the height of the shank andhead portions, represented by the distances x and x', respectively, areequal. The height of the intermediate portion 12, indicated by thedistance y', is equal to the vertical distance y, measured along theside 15 of the shank. The distance z from the butt to the inner end ofthe slit is one-half the distance z' from the corner 20 to the outer endof the slit, or in other words, the height of the shank portion is equalto three times the distance z plus the distance y. The distance z isequal to one-third of the distance x minus the distance y. The length ofthe edges 17 and 21 is equal. This permits of forming the steps 19without waste when the shingles are cut in alternately reversedpositions. The vertical height y of the intermediate portion is anessential factor in producing the result of double coverage throughout,while the distance z results in forming exposure patterns of symmetricalshape.

In laying the shingles they are applied so that the tabs 16 of those ofeach course are inserted under the steps 19, and interlocked orinterengaged with the corners 20, of adjacent shingles of the next lowercourse. This effects high resistance to undue raising or disengaging ofthe butts under winds of high velocities and pressure. When so laid, andnailed as indicated at 25 in Fig. 2, the shingles form a covering havingsymmetrical appearing exposed portions and that provides at least twothicknesses of material throughout.

The modified form of Fig. 4 differs from the preferred form of Fig. lonly in that it omits the extension 24 on the upper edge 23 of the headportion 11. As previously stated, shingles of this form may be cutwithout any waste but they have the commercial disadvantage that theappearance of the butt edges of all of the shingles will not be uniformin that some will have granules adhering to them while others will beentirely free from granules.

Another modification is shown in Fig. 5. In this instance the edges 27and 31, which correspond to the edges 17 and 21 of the form shown inFig. l, are inclined instead of being horizontal. The angle ofinclination of the edges 27 and 31 is preferably the same, orsubstantially the same, as the inclination of the slits 14. The reasonfor this modication is that it has been found that somewhat greaterresistance to wind pressure results when the edges of the locking stepsare inclined rather than horizontal. In this case the effective heightof the intermediate step is the distance y measured vertically betweenthe projections, on a horizontal plane, of the inner corner 30 of edge27 and the outer corner 32 of edge 31.

With shingles of the preferred form having an eight inch butt exposurewhen laid, having a head twenty inches w1de, a shank twelve inches wide,an intermediate portion of sixteen inch width, and having an overallheight of eighteen or eighteen and one-half inches, depending on whetheror not the shingles have extensions 24 on their upper edges, it requiresonly about from 246 to 250 square feet of material to cover a square ofroof area with at least two thicknesses at all points. It will be notedthat shingles of these dimensions, even if cut with the extensions 24,result iu only about four square feet of waste per square It is to beunderstood that the foregoing dimensions are merely illustrative anduncritical. The critical features of the invention are the form andarrangement and proportionate relationship of parts, herein describedand set forth in the claim.

What I claim is:

An interlocking shingle of substantially T-shape, providing at least twothicknesses of material throughout and forming symmetrical exposedpatterns when laid, said shingle comprising a head, a shank, and anintermediate portion, the head and the shank being substantially of thesame height, the shank having an oblique slit in each side at oppositepoints, the two slits being of equal length, the inner end of each slitbeing spaced upward from the lower end of the shank a distance equal toone-half of the distance that its outer end is spaced downward from theintermediate portion, the horizontal distance between the inner ends ofthe two oblique slits defines the width of exposure of the shank whenthe shingle is laid in interlocked relation with like shingles, theheight of the intermediate portion being equal to the vertical distancebetween the inner and outer ends of either slit, the width of the headportion being two and one-half times the horizontal distance between theinner ends of the slits, the width of the intermediate portion beingequal to twice said horizontal distance, and the width of the shankbeing one and one-half times said horizontal distance.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,558,795 Donahue Oct. 27, 1925 1,934,831 Sweet Nov. 14, 1933 2,050,218Abraham Aug. 4, 1936 2,266,376 Miller Dec. 16, 1941 2,444,623 AbrahamIuly 6, 1948

